Not a question about the interpretation of qm.
As a postgrad in physics (masters) i still dont understand quantum theory. I can manipulate kets and bras etc just fine to solve exercises and pass courses with high grades but i still dont understand shit since I cant answer even relatively simple questions as to what everything that i just calculated in paper even means in reality.
My problem is not of the type "what is an electron actually doing when it is in a superposition". It is for example, "The states a|0>+b|1> and a|0>+e^(it) b|1> are different due to the relative phase. This is something that i have been told and that i have accepted. However what difference would i actually see irl if i had the one or the other?"
Let me give an analogy from electromagnetism:
In an electromagnetism course we focus on working with electric and magnetic fields as vector fields, as arrows in space. The course is mostly in terms of arrows, the exercises ask us to find the magnitude and directions of fields in different situations and the exams ask of us pretty much the same thing. In the end electromagnetism is synonymous with arrows (in my head at least). However this is not the full picture. To fully understand the theory, one should be able to throw away all the abstract constructions and mentally see exactly what one would see in real life. That is no arrows, only forces between objects. In this way one could know exactly what the scientists would see, hear, feel in an experiment and understand why all the parts of the theory are needed and to what they correspond in terms of real world experiences. Then hopefully the reasons why the concepts of charge, fields etc were introduced and what these scientist were trying to capture into abstract mathematical models would fully become clear. Thus being able to translate the model back to reality is extremely important. Thankfulky in EM it is relatively straightforward to do so by using the lorentz force law.
Continued.
As a postgrad in physics (masters) i still dont understand quantum theory. I can manipulate kets and bras etc just fine to solve exercises and pass courses with high grades but i still dont understand shit since I cant answer even relatively simple questions as to what everything that i just calculated in paper even means in reality.
My problem is not of the type "what is an electron actually doing when it is in a superposition". It is for example, "The states a|0>+b|1> and a|0>+e^(it) b|1> are different due to the relative phase. This is something that i have been told and that i have accepted. However what difference would i actually see irl if i had the one or the other?"
Let me give an analogy from electromagnetism:
In an electromagnetism course we focus on working with electric and magnetic fields as vector fields, as arrows in space. The course is mostly in terms of arrows, the exercises ask us to find the magnitude and directions of fields in different situations and the exams ask of us pretty much the same thing. In the end electromagnetism is synonymous with arrows (in my head at least). However this is not the full picture. To fully understand the theory, one should be able to throw away all the abstract constructions and mentally see exactly what one would see in real life. That is no arrows, only forces between objects. In this way one could know exactly what the scientists would see, hear, feel in an experiment and understand why all the parts of the theory are needed and to what they correspond in terms of real world experiences. Then hopefully the reasons why the concepts of charge, fields etc were introduced and what these scientist were trying to capture into abstract mathematical models would fully become clear. Thus being able to translate the model back to reality is extremely important. Thankfulky in EM it is relatively straightforward to do so by using the lorentz force law.
Continued.
